A place, a memory, an affection: Vermont folk artist Martha Stevenson paints Vermont towns And now all 252 hang at the State House in Montpelier

By Cynthia Prairie
©2026 Telegraph Publishing

The works of folk artist Martha Stevenson are iconic in Vermont. While best known for her acrylic paintings of Okemo and other ski mountains in the snow, Stevenson is also noted for her lush, romanticized landscapes depicting small town Vermont with all of their appealing quirks.

Now Stevenson, formerly of Londonderry, has just completed one of her most ambitious projects to date — and it has taken its place in the entrance hall of the Vermont State House in Montpelier.

That nine-year project involved visiting every single town in Vermont, then painting at total 259 panels: 256 are 2-by-2 inch and three are larger, each depicting an icon, a building, a memory, an affection that Stevenson has for Vermont’s 252 towns.  Those seven extra panels include gores and unincorporated areas

The project began in 2017 when she, her late husband Bud, who also created style-appropriate frames for her paintings, and her step-daughter Nancy Smith decided to join the Vermont 251 Club and visit every single town in Vermont. (That number became 252 in 2022 when Essex and Essex Junction split.)

The trio had two home bases to work out of: Londonderry and a timeshare in Warren, southwest of Montpelier. Bud died in 2023 at age 92, and Stevenson finished visiting the towns and compiling photos and notes in 2024.

And earlier this year, she completed all the paintings.

Not every square is filled with an historic landmark — although there is a goodly share of churches, town halls and other notable buildings.

There’s a smattering of beloved Vermont businesses: Gill’s Grinders representing Rutland (a Stevenson favorite); Cabot Cheese for, well, Cabot; King Arthur Flour representing Norwich, Burton Snowboards for Burlington — although Londonderry would like a word. On the other hand, Londonderry is honored with one of the large panels, depicting Stevenson’s studio. The other two large panels are Montpelier and Warren.

Stevenson’s sense of humor comes out in the kitschy landmarks she chose such as Connie the Gorilla holding the VW Beetle in Leicester and the Vermontasaurus in Post Mills in Thetford.

And there is memory: As we chatted over lunch recently at Sugar Bob’s in Chester, Stevenson fondly recalled being in Weston and striking up a friendly conversation with a woman who wore a necklace bearing a Scrabble tile with the letter K on it. The woman, whose name was indeed Kay, said she was a competitive Scrabble player and invited Stevenson to her Baltimore home for tea and scones. It would be a few years before Stevenson decided to pursue that invitation, but when she did she discovered that Kay had died. So in her honor, Baltimore is depicted with a K Scrabble tile.

Viewers of this work will enjoy searching for their towns among the tiles. But don’t expect Chester or Rockingham or Grafton or Andover or Ludlow or any other town to be in the exact proximity to its surrounding towns. This isn’t a map or an atlas, but a piece of art. And fitting the tiles into a coherent pattern on a frame of Vermont was quite the undertaking.

As a matter of fact, the frame itself was a minor feat since a plywood backing would have made it too heavy. Inspiration hits at the oddest places. “An idea came from the door section of the Lowe’s,” says Stevenson as she and Doug Snyder, a close Vermont friend who now lives in Virginia, pondered possibilities.

A hollow-core door would prove sturdy and lightweight. While Stevenson recuperated from hip replacement surgery, Snyder  went to work on the door with his jigsaw, cutting out the shape of the state that on what would become the backdrop and permanent frame for the entire work, which stands more than 5 feet tall and weighs 35 pounds.

Speaking of jigsaws, there has been discussion about turning prints of the work into puzzles.  And soon, expect an online interactive map courtesy of Stevenson’s son Don Rowley. A quick preview of the beta site proves that it’s a lot of fun and informative as well.  We’ll let you know when that goes live.